Overview
- The Government has introduced the Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill to strip 19th-century rules that bar Roman Catholic and Jewish prime ministers from advising the monarch on Church of England appointments.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who is an openly practising Catholic, has temporarily transferred the advisory duty to the Lord Chancellor so bishop appointments can proceed while Parliament considers the Bill.
- In practice the prime minister’s role is limited because Church committees choose candidates first and government and royal approval is sought only after a selection is made, according to official guidance.
- The change has drawn mixed responses, with supporters calling it necessary legal modernisation and critics, including a senior Tory MP and the National Secular Society, urging deeper separation of church and state or questioning the Government’s priorities.
- The legal anomaly stems from late 18th and early 19th-century acts such as the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, and the Bill could reopen wider debates about the Established Church’s constitutional role, including bishops sitting in the House of Lords.